International Deadline: August 15, 2022 – The Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition is the second-longest running juried print and drawing competition in the country. Multiple venues, awards…
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Submitted by Jaime Sharp on July 20, 2022
“Over the past few years, companies made it their mission to commit to diversifying their boards and fostering a more inclusive culture. But, with women holding just 24% of senior leadership positions globally, and white people making up almost 80% of the American workforce, there is still work to be done,” said author Ashton Jackson for Make It Black. “That’s why Lybra Clemons, chief diversity, inclusion and belonging officer at Twilio, works to build diverse representation at every level.”
“I think a lot of people thought it was just a more elevated term for diversity, equity inclusion. But as we’ve started to go through the process, we’re learning that anti-racism is different. DE&I are still very foundational and fundamental to work, but anti-racism is an active term where you are personally responsible. This is about self-awareness and taking full accountability of who you are. We are actively promoting equity and racial justice through consistent, deliberate decisions that we make.”
“There’s the mistrust, people discredit you… you have to be the ultimate subject matter expert,” [Twilio] says. “And even when you are, people are still discrediting and doubting you. You have to work harder to gain that trust with your peer group. And so I find that I’ve had to use all kinds of tools and coaching to stay confident in who I am and know how to manage when people are constantly ripping away at you.”
Submitted by Jaime Sharp on July 20, 2022
“June 24th, 2022 was a dark day in our fight for liberation of Black bodies and for Black power,” said Jasmine Williams for Interaction Institute for Social Change. “Reproductive justice is centrally linked to Black liberation: it is our right to know our bodies, make decisions about our bodies, and feel safe in our bodies. Self-determination has been challenged, disregarded, and disrespected. To my Black sisters, trans brothers, and gender-non-conforming kin: I rage with you, cry with you, and continue the work of building a world in service of our liberation with you today and all days.”
“The Supreme Court’s conservative decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is a calculated attack on our bodies, our freedom, and our personal sovereignty. This is not the first action taken by the courts in what has been a long history of reproductive control rooted in classism, sexism, and racism. It is class, sex, and race-based violence designed to further oppress, control, dehumanize, delegitimize, and imprison. I stand in opposition to this decision and in solidarity and support of Black Lives Matter’s calls for expanding the court, ending the filibuster, and passing the Women’s Health Protection Act.”
International Deadline: October 20, 2022 – Revue {R}évolution invites artist proposals that connect and explore the physical and the ethereal. A work that speaks on its own and opens the gates to consciousness…
Submitted by Jaime Sharp on July 18, 2022
From the National Endowment for the Arts, “This Arts Data Profile gives national and state-level estimates of artists in the workforce. The figures derive from American Community Survey (ACS) data covering 2015-2019. The ACS is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. State-level estimates are available for the total number of artists and for each individual type of artist (workers in any of 13 specific artist occupations).”
The interactive map, “illustrates both counts and location quotients for the total number of artists, and for workers,” for a number of creative fields.
Submitted by Jaime Sharp on July 19, 2022
“Indigenous communities face multi-level hurdles to thriving in U.S. financial systems. First, communities are governed by both the U.S. and their tribal affiliations, which creates unique structures for each group. But laws harken back to a toxic mixture of treaties and broken promises, leaving many without the foundation for financial stability,” said author Hadassah Patterson for Next City. “Adding to this are a hodge-podge of modern-day legislative gaps, policy bias and lack of access to financial services.”
“Financial education is an integral piece in the systemic oppression around access to capital for Native communities…Native individuals are also the least likely of any minority group to have emergency funds or a banking/checking account of any other minority population in the nation. So Native families wouldn’t have access to the emergency loans necessary to keep families housed, fed, and safe through the pandemic crisis and its recovery period.”
“In the near future, we are broadening our range of financial education programming. We’re launching an advanced curriculum for Building Native Communities: Financial Coaching for Families to assist Native financial practitioners in further developing their coaching skills in 2023,” said Patterson. “We’ll also roll out the full Native CDFI Practitioners Certification program. This program is designed to build the operational sustainability and organizational capacity of Native CDFIs across the country, through tailored instruction on financial management, lending, development services, impact tracking, marketing, capitalization and more.”
International Deadline: August 15, 2022 – Association of Illustrators announces the launch of the Global Healthcare Illustration Awards, celebrating the best healthcare related images created by illustrators…
International Deadline: September 13, 2022 – The Hodder Fellowship will be given to artists of exceptional promise to pursue independent projects at Princeton University during the academic year. $88,000 stipend…
The discovery of a long-hidden artwork is always an occasion of excitement. Whether it be through an institution stumbling upon a work that fell through the cracks or discerning a hidden layer to an existent work, there’s a mystique to this event that so rarely occurs. This past week the National Galleries of Scotland made a remarkable discovery of the sort when they found a hidden van Gogh portrait on the back of one of their pieces.
In advance of the National Galleries of Scotland’s exhibition “A Taste for Impressionism”, they had been examining Head of a Peasant Woman (1885) by Vincent van Gogh—a simple and sober depiction of what appears to be a milkmaid, with a slight warmth to her skin. As they looked over it with an x-ray, they were shocked to discover the unmistakable visage of van Gogh in self-portrait on the reverse side. A later work than Head of a Peasant Woman, this is not the first such instance of the pained and prolific artist placing an image of himself on the reverse of an earlier canvas.
“Head of a Peasant Woman” by Vincent van Gogh; courtesy of National Galleries of Scotland.
For the moment the gallery is still working towards the process of revealing the hidden van Gogh in a necessarily careful fashion—it sits under layers of cardboard and glue and will require “delicate conservation work” so as not to damage either painting.
But even in its current form as an x-ray image, the work is truly striking. With half of his face lost in darkness, practically dissolving into its surroundings, the artist’s one eye stares fixedly out towards the viewer, little facial features available to give humanity to ground the expression in humanity. His brimmed hat and knot tie give it a sense of normalcy, but sitting with such a pointed gaze halfway into an abyss of chalkboard green haunts us with a strong representation of that which underpinned van Gogh’s hopeful colours.
What strikes most perhaps in this sombre image is the left ear still being fully intact.
Until the hidden van Gogh can be properly uncovered, the National Galleries of Scotland will allow the world to view this covert piece via a specialized light box as part of the display. Whether the revealing process will be feasible still remains to be seen. Still, the sheer knowledge of this painting’s existence makes it a tremendous addition to the legacy of one of the world’s greatest painters. Even long after the world came to see his beauty, he still finds ways to surprise us.
International Deadline: August 14, 2022 – The Play/Ground team is looking for proposals for engaging and immersive art installations that can excite and unite visitors around the power of art. Budget production…